Why is it that the supporters of the school district bond feel the need to exaggerate the description of what is going on at the school?
“Serious” health and safety issues? Not built to code? Isn’t this just an attempt to pull the wool over our eyes so that we can’t see what is really going on? If these health and safety issues are so “significant,” why hasn’t the county building official sited the school? From the way the bond supporters talk you’d think the place should be closed down before it falls down. Truth is these problems could be fixed and the place was built to code. So why the scare tactics, guilt trips and exaggerations?
It seems to me that these types of maneuvers are employed when there is a lack of a compelling case.
Descriptions of “dark, leaky classrooms with failing mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems” make the entire place sound like a dungeon. I’ve been there and believe me, it is not. It may not be the cleanest school but that’s what happens when you don’t do proper maintenance.
We are assured the school district has changed its ways. They have hired a new “Facilities Manager.” He is working on a plan. Truth is there have been several facilities managers at the school in recent years and each one has duplicated the efforts of the one who came before him and developed a plan. However, when there aren’t funds to follow through on that plan, the facilities manager is powerless. When the choice comes down to losing a teacher or losing a maintenance worker, guess who gets the ax?
The only responsible way to assure that our buildings are free of “serious health and safety issues” is to remove that responsibility from the school board and administration who have shown time and again that maintaining buildings is not a priority.
If you can’t make taking care of a $27,000,000.00 facility a priority, you have no business spending $27,000,000.00 in the first place. How can we approve this expenditure without fully knowing how much it will cost to maintain it and that the funds will be there to keep it from falling into the same situation that we are in today?
Demand that a school facility maintenance district be created before a bond is passed. This basic ground work must be done now before any bond is put into play.
Chris Butler
Eastsound
